Page 26 of Family Bonds- Garrett & Justine

“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s horrible to lose someone close to you and worse around the holidays.”

“I’m sure you see death more than most,” she said. “I’m not going to say something stupid like you’re immune to it or become that way. I think anytime someone becomes immune to death they just stop feeling. That’s not healthy.”

His eyes softened and got a darker shade of blue to the point they were almost brown. “You’re right. I’m not immune, but you can say I might not always handle it as well as I should.”

She nodded. She’d touch on it some more if she felt that window was cracking open.

“My stepmother murdered my father,” she blurted out. “I told you he was a doctor. A well-known one. It was difficult to be there with this going on. The trial hasn’t started. She is claiming self-defense.”

He reached his hand over and laid it on hers. “And you’re not buying it,” he said. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“Not for a minute. I know you always hear these things that you don’t know a person, but I knew my father. Elise, my stepmother, is a drunk. She was four times over the limit that night. My father had defense wounds onhim.”

Her eyes filled and she had to end this before she bawled like a baby.

“Hey,” he said. “Let’s talk about the weather. It’s awesome, isn’t it? Bright and sunny.”

“Thank you,” she said, picking up a napkin and blotting her eyes. “It is nice.”

He laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, I came here a few months ago and volunteered for a one-year stint.”

“I did hear that,” she said. “But since you’ve got ties here to the island, it might not have been such a hardship.”

“Not a hardship. I’ve got a weekend home here,” he said. “A place to stay. If I didn’t, I would have stayed at my parents’ house; they aren’t here often. But the truth is, this goes back to not handling things well. I needed a change of pace and environment to reevaluate my life.”

He’d released her hand a moment ago, but she reached out and laid hers on his. “I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel that I’m not alone.”

“Never think that,” he said.

8

FAMILY DYNAMICS

Garrett took a risk moving over to Justine’s table, but without risk, there was no reward.

She’d almost looked terrified, and if there was one thing he couldn’t turn his back on, it was someone that needed help. Or a soothing word or hand.

That was one of his biggest problems in life.

He soaked up everyone else’s fears into his own body and then never squeezed them out in a healthy manner.

Pieces of him were being eaten alive with the toxins, but he couldn’t seem to stop the pores from expanding to let more in.

“So tell me,” she said. “With this nice weather, what things can I do on the island? Since I’m only here six months, I might as well get out some. I don’t have any desire to go on the ferry back to Boston and my place is being subleased out.”

“Good for you,” he said. “I’m sure you’re in the hospital housing, right?”

“I am,” she said. “I’m going to guess you’ve never stayed in it?”

“I’ve never needed to. Even if my parents were at their house on the island, I’ve got enough cousins I could have crashed with. Though my parents' house is plenty big. I just don’t feel right taking the hospital space from someone else. Hudson’s wife, she came here for a job and it took her eighteen months to find a place that opened up she could afford. She stayed in the hospital housing the whole time, then moved in with him.”

“Is she a nurse or doctor? I know all the Mills on the roster, but she might use her maiden name.”

“She is a coordinator for the patients. Not sure of her title but more like a much-needed liaison between doctors, patients, and community services when they are discharged.”

“So you must utilize her in your department or do you have one solely for your patients? My guess is they need a lot of other services.”

“We had one, but she left and it’s hard to fill. The nurses do some of it and then work with Delaney. That’s Hudson’s wife. It was easier to do this than try to keep filling a position we couldn’t.”

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